The Rally of Republican Lefts (, RGR) was an electoral alliance during the

French Fourth Republic The French Fourth Republic () was the republican government of France from 27 October 1946 to 4 October 1958, governed by the fourth republican constitution of 13 October 1946. Essentially a reestablishment and continuation of the French Third R ...

which contested elections from June 1946 to the

1956 French legislative election Legislative elections were held in France on 2 January 1956 to elect the third National Assembly (France), National Assembly of the French Fourth Republic, Fourth Republic. The elections were held using party-list proportional representation. Th ...

. It was composed of the Radical Party, the Independent Radicals, the Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance (UDSR) and several conservative groups. Headed by Jean-Paul David, founder of the

anti-Communist Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communist beliefs, groups, and individuals. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when th ...

movement (Peace and Freedom), it was in fact a right-of-center conservative coalition, which presented candidates to the June 1946,

November 1946 The following events occurred in November 1946: November 1, 1946 (Friday) *In what the National Basketball Association (NBA) credits as its first game, the New York Knicks defeated the Toronto Huskies 68–66. The only game scheduled for the ...

, and 1951 legislative elections. Despite its name, the coalition was on the right wing of French politics; for a long time, the French republican right has refused to call itself "right" since the right-wing in France has historically been associated with

monarchism Monarchism is the advocacy of the system of monarchy or monarchical rule. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government independently of any specific monarch, whereas one who supports a particular monarch is a royalist. ...

(this practice is known as ). It was subsidised by French employers, who saw in it the best defense against Communism and the defender of

economic liberalism Economic liberalism is a political and economic ideology that supports a market economy based on individualism and private property in the means of production. Adam Smith is considered one of the primary initial writers on economic liberalism ...

, in a context marked by various

nationalization Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization contrasts with p ...

s supported by the

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (, , PCF) is a Communism, communist list of political parties in France, party in France. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its Member of the European Parliament, MEPs sit with The Left in the ...

(PCF), the

French Section of the Workers' International The French Section of the Workers' International (, SFIO) was a major socialist political party in France which was founded in 1905 and succeeded in 1969 by the present Socialist Party. The SFIO was founded in 1905 as the French representativ ...

(SFIO) and the Gaullist movement. Employers conceived the RGR as such until at least the 1951 creation of the

National Centre of Independents and Peasants The National Centre of Independents and Peasants (, ; CNIP) is a right-wing agrarian political party in France, founded in 1951 by the merger of the National Centre of Independents (CNI), the heir of the French Republican conservative-liberal ...

(CNIP) gathering independent conservative deputies. During the 1956 legislative campaign, it became a political party led by Edgar Faure and Radicals who refused to join the Republican Front coalition.

Composition of the coalition

The RGR was largely composed of the Radical-Socialist Party, which had governed France during most of the Third Republic, and of the Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance (''Union démocratique et socialiste de la Résistance''), which included René Pleven and François Mitterrand. The UDSR was a founding member of the

Liberal International Liberal International (LI) is a worldwide organization of liberalism, liberal political parties. The political international was founded in Oxford in 1947 and has become the pre-eminent network for liberal and progressive democratic parties aim ...

in 1947. Others parties included: * Republican Social Party of French Reconciliation (''Parti républicain social de la réconciliation française''), founded by former members of Colonel de la Rocque's Parti Social Français (PSF) * Democratic Republican Alliance (''Alliance Démocratique''), main right-wing party during the

interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...

* Democratic Socialist Party (''Parti socialiste démocratique'') of Paul Faure, which gathered former SFIO members excluded from that party because of their

Collaborationism Wartime collaboration is cooperation with the enemy against one's country of citizenship in wartime. As historian Gerhard Hirschfeld says, it "is as old as war and the occupation of foreign territory". The term ''collaborator'' dates to the 19th c ...

* Independent Radicals (''Radicaux indépendants''), radicals refusing the Radical-Socialist Party alliance with the left-wing during the Cartel des gauches, issued from a scission in 1928; the group is reconstituted at the Liberation by the mayor of Nice, Jacques Médecin * Republican-Socialist Party (''Parti républicain-socialiste'') created by independent socialists who had refused the unification of the socialist movement in 1905 under the SFIO, which was, like the Independent Radicals, almost an empty shell by then.

Foundation

After World War II, France was governed by the Three-parties alliance composed of the

Communists Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, d ...

, the

Socialists Socialism is an economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes the economic, political, and socia ...

and the Christian democratic Popular Republican Movement (MRP). The Radical Party and the pre-war

right-wing Right-wing politics is the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position based on natural law, economics, authority, property ...

groups were considered jointly responsible for the 1940 collapse of the Third Republic. In the same time, the attempt to gather the non-Communist Resistance in a new party, the UDSR, failed. In 1946, they formed a coalition to resist to the Three-parties alliance in the legislative elections. They defined themselves as "

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

republicans" whilst they opposed left-wing policies. Indeed, until the end of the 19th century, the French left was defined as republican and the right as pro-

monarchy A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, reigns as head of state for the rest of their life, or until abdication. The extent of the authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic (constitutio ...

. Then, when the republic was no longer questioned, the conservative republican groups, who had sat at the center-left of the assemblies, moved to the right-wing seats, but they continued to consider themselves as left-wingers: this is known as '' sinistrisme''. When the Communists were ejected from the government during the May 1947 crisis, the RGR joined the government of the Third force with the SFIO, the MRP, then the National Center of Independents and Peasants. The RGR obtained 11.6% of the votes in 1946, 11,1% in 1951 and 3.9% of 1956 (most of the Radicals had decided to present themselves as members of the Republican Front of Pierre Mendès France.) In 1955, under the leaderships of Pierre Mendès France and François Mitterrand, the Radical Party and the UDSR advocated left-wing policies and left the RGR. Their internal opponents pursued the RGR, which became a small center-right party led by Prime Minister Edgar Faure and composed of Radicals expelled from the party. It disappeared in 1958, many Radicals joining again the Radical Party while Jean-Paul David created the '' Parti libéral européen'' (European Liberal Party), which would eventually fuse in 1978 with the '' Parti Radical Valoisien''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rally Of Republican Lefts Defunct political party alliances in France Centrist parties in France Right-wing parties in France French Fourth Republic Anti-communism in France 1946 establishments in France 1958 disestablishments in France Radical parties in France Social democratic parties in France

Composition of the coalition

Foundation

See also

References